Reviews of Un Jardin Après La Mousson

I don't know why but I had a misconception that the whole Jardin series must all be soft scents. So I gave myself several good spritzes and oh my! How spicy!

Ginger and Cardamom are the most prominent to my nose. It's a juicy ginger smell and it gives a cold and wet feeling, which goes well with 'Après la Mousson'. Though I've never been to India, I would imagine Kenzo Jungle l'Elephant is India under the sun, while Après la Mousson is India after the rain. I'd love to wear it in summer for its cold and wet attitude, and in winter for its spiciness. A fragrance with edges but versatile as well.

Here and now in (almost) 2017, it's easy to forget that when Mousson came out, melon perfumes were very much a mainstream cliche and were fairly loathed by serious perfume people. I'd argue that Mousson was probably the best of the thousands that were churned out at the time, but there are a LOT of old bad reviews out there because of all this.

So what does it smell like? To me, mostly black pepper and a fresh, vegetal cucumber, along with that round aquatic 00's fake melon. There are some artificial greens in there, as well as some cilantro and a nice white flowers accord that classes things up.

I've always liked Mousson for its bright and deceptively complex mix of wood, spice, flowers, and greens. I have a bottle and find it useful as a scent that won't offend anybody without being cliched or dumb. That being said, I can see how chypre enthusiasts or lovers of complicated classics can find Mousson kind of dumb, though I'd argue that it's actually quite multi-layered. Thumbs up.

By far the most peculiar among the Jardin’s series, but in my opinion, only partially in a positive meaning. The main “pro” is that this smells undoubtedly way more creative than the others, it’s a really intriguing concept which actually succeeds in recreating the feel of a bracing garden just after a rain storm. Wet woods, wet grass... and – here’s the “con” – a couple of totally unrelated notes which make me wonder what “jardin” has just rained on, precisely. Basically the core accord of this Mousson smells to me as a surreal edible nightmare made with melon ice cream, cucumber and mushrooms. Not joking: it’s precisely and literally what I smell here. I haven’t a clue of what this may be due to, I guess part of this comes from ginger; but besides a nice musky-camphorous sort of “warm” spicy accord, a subtle citrus top note and a vetiver base note, I get that. Melon ice cream, cucumber and porcini mushrooms. Which as you may guess, it’s something none would want to smell of (I hope). The drydown goes a bit better, a bit woodier and drier, but still that’s the smell. So I get the aquatic rendition is really peculiar here, with a sort of spicy-mineral-camphorous-fruity twist, and I get this is by far the most unique and creative among this line, but for me it’s just this close to a nonsense scrubber. Mild thumbs up just because I admit it’s a matter of personal taste and I acknowledge the quality of ingredients and the creativity involved.